An Agege customary court in Lagos State has dissolved the 23-year-old marriage between a couple over allegations of battery.
The complainant, Mrs Evelyn Owolabi, had approached the court to dissolve her marriage citing irreconcilable differences.
She told the court that she decided to take the action because she was scared for her life and those of her children.
“My husband beats me at will despite my age and my sickness. He doesn’t care how I feed or how the children survive in school. My eldest daughter who is just 18 has taken up the responsibility of providing for me and her two siblings from the catering business she started in school.
“We were living in peace but things changed when my husband delved into politics a few years ago. He got some contracts and started living large and spending his money on strange women. It got so bad that some of the women got my number and started raining curses on me and my children. One of them whom he brings home whenever I am not around even threatened to pour acid on me.
“Our family intervened but all to no avail; my husband is rigid and stubborn, he won’t change.
“I want the court to dissolve the union and grant me the custody of the children. Please end this marriage. I am tired of this union,” she said.
President of the court, Mr Phillios Williams, held that since the husband, Mohammed failed to show up in court through out the proceedings, the court had no choice but to end the union.
“The court was informed that the respondent filed a similar suit in another customary court when we were still handling the very matter.
“This court, therefore, sees this as an abuse of court process. We stand by the judgement we will give here today.
“Starting from today, you cease to be addressed as husband and wife; you shall go your separate ways and keep the peace,” he said.
He gave the custody of the children to the wife in the interim, saying that the other three children were old enough to decide who to live with.
He also ordered that the man should pay N25,000 monthly through the court for the upkeep of the children.
“He should also be responsible for the education and medical needs of the children,” the court president held.
